Blog#10 How to make a film

Hello this is Shoko!! We have watched many films in this class so far. As you know there are various films: animation, short film, SF, action, comedy... There are already many films and other new films will come up in the future. By the way, do you know how to make a film?? We often see the content of a film but I am sure not so many people see the process. So today I would like to introduce how it makes. Reading this blog, you can understand the basic process to make film so that you will be able to make a film whenever you want!!



1. You have to gather a production crew. They could be your friends or family.
2. Find a director who is specialized in making a film.
3.Get the film
4. Assemble the cast. Having an audition is one way to find the best actor and actress.
5.Correct props and costumes.
6.Choose filming locations. Do not forget to get a permission to use.
7.Have rehearsals. After you make sure everything is set, then film it.
8.Make the film processed.
9.Edit the film.
10.Show at film festivals so that many people know your film.
11. Invite studios and distributors to a small theater and screen your film. Your film might be distributed if they like it.

As you can see, there are many things to make a film and each process takes a long time. Also, even the lowest budget will be over than $15,000. For instance, "Avatar" took 18 years and cost $237,000,000 to be completed.  Knowing this truth, I thought that we have to respect each film more.

This is the list of common tools for film making and this web site shows specific steps which I skipped.

Blog #10 The popcorn is prohibited !!??

Hi, this is Chiaki. As you know, the popcorn is very popular food at the movie theaters, and Takuto had already said that in his last presentation. I always eat it when I go to the theater and my favorite taste is CARAMAL!!! I think people eat popcorn only at the theater or at the Tokyo Disney Land, don't they?? But recently, eating the popcorn is getting to be prohibited at the movie theater because of its smells and making sounds.

Basically, we do allow to eat and to drink something which we bought at the theater, only at the theater. However, there are some people who bring food and drink in from outside the theater, and they eat and drink them during watching movies. Almost all people who eat popcorn buy it at the theater, but why they are criticized and are made disgusted? Some people say eating and drinking something in the theater is too noisy and makes smells which hinder them from concentrating to watch the movies, others say eating popcorn is one pleasure as watching the movies at the theater not at the home.

Actually, when I was under 15, I used to eat popcorn at the theater and it was one pleasure thing for me, and I couldn’t watch the movies without eating or drinking something because I cannot concentrate on watching too long movies such as Harry Potter series, but as I eat or drink something I could not be tired and fed up with sitting the same place for a long time. Time goes by, now I don’t eat something during watching because I want to concentrate on the movie and don’t want to eat something, maybe I think I was grown up.

To sum up, it is hard to prohibit to eat and to drink something because if the movie industries do that, their sales will decrease. The number of children tends to prefer to watch the movies at home than to go to the theater because of snacks, and the person who like eating popcorn at the theater tend to be less. The movie industry will have huge damages and may become bankrupt.

I have two ideas to solve this problem. First, the theater needs to be separated, it means, one is allowed to eat and to drink, another is prohibited. As to do that, the person can choose which theater is the best for them and they don’t have to worry about their eating and drinking or others’. Second, as this picture, people who want to eat popcorn would eat it before starting the film, it means during the trailer. Even though the amount of popcorn you can eat during the film decreases but you can eat!!! In addition I mention you that the calorie of popcorn is really high. 5kcal for 1g, 250kcal for 50g…so if you care about your health, you had better not to eat popcorn in the dark place where you cannot notice what you eat. In fact, I hope the popcorn will not be prohibited because I want everyone to enjoy watching movies which teach us new world and make us some sour of emotion.

Blog #9 TED Kathryn Schulz: Don't regret regret

Hello, this is Chiaki. I was surprised when I heard the next topic we use for our blog was TED because I have already known it and enjoy watching it usually. TED is the best material for us to learn English and to be worth listening. Today I'll introduce you a beneficial lecture by Kathryn Schulz: Don't regret regret. This lecture teach us an important thing not to regret what we have done but to live with the regret that we made, and it also encourage us to live after making a big mistake through her tattoo experience. This was filmed in November 2011 and posted in December 2011, it isn't a new one but it is really great.

 The reason is why I chose this lecture is recently I took an important exam but after taking it and handing it in I noticed my faults but of course I couldn't and must not rewrite my answer so I regretted it. Since then I have been thinking about my faults and think if I could notice my stupid mistakes earlier and could change them before handing it in, I could pass it, even though my result have not been arrived to me yet. I sometimes regret what I had done and I think everyone dose too. I have wanted to know how to remove such a strong regret so I chose it.

 Through this lecture, she talked about her the most regret, tattoo experience when she was 29. On that day she got a tattoo on her arm, she really regretted it and couldn't sleep well and got irritated to what she had done. She always doesn't regret so much because she hopes this word: Things without all remedy should be without regard; what's done is done, but in this case she was very regretted. Finally she found the way to live with our own regrets, not to regret what we had done before and not to blame ourselves through her experience.
Here are the best ways to remove from the disgusting feeling and to coｍforｔ ourselves.
 1. to find some comforts in the universality of the regret
 2. to laugh myself off
 3. to obtain the power of time

Through her lecture I could find the most interesting but profitable things, these are we can learn new things from what we had mistaken, we can find our own possibilities from what we had done, and we can comfort ourselves by ourselves. Because if we regret what we had done and hope the things could be changed, but it is definitely impossible. We should advance, don't stop. Inevitably we should live with our own faults without too much disappointment, so the best ways to do that are learning the way to comfort ourselves and having a new point of view, as she said, "we have to love non-perfect things with faults that we create and to admit ourselves who create these." I enjoyed this lecture and learned the most beneficial thing for me, so I will try to comfort myself and not to regret what I had done before. Spending too much time on thinking about the regret that couldn't be changed and the past that I am still not convinced kills our precious time. The regrets remind us of not the regret itself but the fact that I could have produced much better results depend on us.
Please watch it and lead a better life without disappointments!!!

Blog #10 Movies' Names in Japanese

Hi! This is Kimura Takuto.


As you know, during the cultural festival I went to Hokkaido and met many international students from all over the world. One of whom was from Britain. He asked me what is my favorite film, to which I replied BIOHAZARD (バイオハザード）. And then, he said " you know? the film called like this in Japanese is dubbed RESIDENT EVIL in English." I was surprised to notice that and decided to research on this. As to the film, which originated in a Japanese game, when the game was imported to occidental countries, it was named RESIDENT EVIL. And that is why the film has the same name.


Seeing films from America and Europe imported to Japan, you will easily figure out they have Japanese names. For example, we watched The Big Sleep in the class, which is named "三つ数えろ, Count to Three" and City Lights, "街の灯". And even though some movies in Japanese have the same (or alike, because of the difference in pronounciation between Japanese and English) title as those in English, they are named in Katakana, Top Hat, " トップハット", Paper Moon, " ペーパー・ムーン", and The Modern Times, " モダン・タイムス" not having the in Japanese version.

Who decides Japanese names? The answer is distribution companies. Movie distributors purchase not only the right to broadcast films but also that to name them. And since English characters are less familiar to the Japanese than Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, they are likely to re-name.


But sometimes, titles in Japanese do not go with their stories, which movie companies in Europe and America are afraid of and make contracts to rename their movies only in Katakana with Japanese distributors. And also in Japan, there are some who do not like films with terrible names in Japanese, saying they are nonsence.


Now, English is intelligible to many Japanese. And I think movies from foreign countries need not be dubbed in Japanese, maybe Katakana is okay. Films mistakenly dubbed in Japanese would just confound spectators and benefit little to them. If movie distributors have time to discuss film titles in Japanese, they might as well make inpressing trailers.

Blog #9 TED:Peter Norvig "The 100,000-student classroom

Hello this is shoko. TED has many attractive lectures and I personally think watching TED talks is so much better way than watching boring TV programmes to kill your time. Today, I would like to introduce you this lecture:"The 100,000-student class" by Peter Norvig. This short lecture is about an online education system which was filmed Feb 2012 and posted Jun 2012.

I choose this lecture because I am interested in education and its effect on people. I am taking teacher training course and studying lots of things about teaching and learning. I actually knows online education has a huge possibility to change the current education system and there are already various online education courses which are provided by many education companies.  However his system is different from those ordinary ones and it actually seems an interesting way. So I would like to share his idea with you.

 

 

Peter Norvig is a computer scientist and currently the Director of Research at Google Inc and he used to be a teacher at the Stanford University. Through his teaching experience, he noticed that even contents of each lecture have been improved, the way of teaching has not changed at all for long long time.  In the fall of 2011, he started to change the way of teaching and learning: he made a  free online education system. People can watch the high level lecture movies on the web. In addition, in his system, he gave students homework and decided due date so that students can study as if they actually take this course in class. After student completed their course and if they pass them, they can receive an actual certification.  

 

Online education system is no longer interesting and new thing. What attractive thing in this lecture is his original ideas. He tried to make online web course more real: he gave small quizzes during a video and homework assignments.  Also he changed the way of teaching: he adopted man-to-man teaching method. In order to make a content easier to grasp, he divides a long lecture into small 2~6 minutes video. Those characteristics are really effective to motivate students to keep studying. Because an online course does not have a class, students have to study by themelves and in that situation, they often lose motivation easily and quickly. Therefore, this difference from other online lecture courses amazed me.

 

Free online education system has huge possibility. It enables poor and busy people to learn high quality contents whenever they want and gives opportunity to people all over the world.  However, only people who have a computer can do this program and other the poorest people cannot. This is obviously an attructive education system. However, we also have to think about people who really cannot study in their life. More than 160,000 students from 209 countries enrolled Norvig's web site so this system actually does work. This system can be impoved more and more in the future for people who need it.

 



Blog #9: TED Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Hi! This is Takuto.

I was surprised to hear in the class about TED, which I had been using as a study material when I was in highschool. There are many stories I recommend you to watch, but this is the best I have ever seen.

I chose this story because, as you know ( or don't know?) in the class, I'm not so talkative person. That is why the first time I heard her story, I was completely encouraged and came to think I don't have to pretend to play an assertive person, but I have only to be honest to my personality.


"There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas." [10:36]


Susan Cain states introverts have talents to come up with unique, innovative ideas which are usually hidden inside their minds and never let go, and we should not underestimate them. The story begins with her uncomfortable experience when she took part in a camp in her childhood, forced to become "ROWDIE". And then, she casts a doubt on the society we live in, in this talk she puts school and workplace as examples,  praising aggressive, appealing people and denouncing those rarely expressing themselves. After that, she mentions cultural history in western countries including America to show why introverts have got so excluded. In conclusion, she says though she knows the importance of groupwork or communication, sometimes extroverts should be isolated and work alone to raise creativity, and as for introverts, they should expose their opinions a little more.


In my opinion, I doubt if introverts are wiser than extroverts, however, I absolutely agree her thoughts that introverts should be much more welcomed to the society, which means we should understand these sorts of people. And once in a while, we must need time to think alone.
If you are fed up with pretending to be energetic, this story will give you the courage to follow your true characters.

Blog # 8 Minimalism

Hello! This is Kimura Takuto.

Even though it is far from the end of this year, I have begun cleaning my room. And I have sold some card games I used to play with. When cleaning my room, I recalled an article in Courrier Japon. This is about minimalism.

Minimalism originated in art, design and music, and means erasing all unnecessary things and making works simple without characteristics. But recently, it has been incorporated in lifestyles, living a life with only 100 belongings including furniture and clothes.

To become a minimalist, five things are required.

1. Throwing away all unnecessary things

2. Having a good eye to distingish precious things from your stuffs

3. Cherish what you have chosen, not discarding it so easily

4. Never look at huge empty space in your room as sad, but as pleasant

5. Change your life style over and over again. Never linger in one particular style


If you don't see what I'd like to say, please refer to this, written in Japanese.

Thanks to tablet PC and smart phones having many functions, not so many things are needed when living. ( For example, clock, weather forecast, TV, newspaper and so on can be replaced by these devices.) And since economy is still dipping and people are likely to refrain from spending money on luxuries, minimalism would become appreciated.

However, there are some dissidents arguing eliminating unnecessary things also means eliminating memories and emotions reminded from them. Think about toys you used to play with. Can you erase them without any compromise?

Blog#7: Writing My Name in Other Languages

 Hello. This is Kimura Takuto. Thank you for putting good grades on my presentation!! I'm sure it will give me confidence to presentate.

By the way, did you meet those from foreign countries during summer vacation? I did.  When I was in Korea, I chatted with not only Korean people, but also a professor from Iraq majoring in entomology and a Taiwanese person.

I'm fond of linguistics and every time I talk with those from other countries or Japanese studying languages I cannot speak or don't know, I have them write my name in these languages like this picture. This is Kurdish, spoken mostly in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. I asked the professor from Iraq to type my name in Kurdish, repeating my name. And interestingly, when I told my name, he said " why are Japanese names so long?". As little had I thought about such a thing, I was surprised to hear that. No wonder he said so because his name is only 7 letters in English, mine is 12.
And I found my name is difficult to pronounce. I repeating my name, he misunderstood my name for " Kimura Takumu" . I don't know why he took like this, nevetheless he got correctly at last. Mistakes in pronounciation reminds me of the trip to Seatle when I was in highschool. While I was there, staying in host family's house, I was called " Taquito", one of the famous Mexican food dishes.

↑My name written in Kurdish

And I also asked one of my friends studying Russian to write my name in it. Thanks to Russian letters' complexity , I don't know how to pronounce it.

I think this is easy way to make friends, asking those from other countries or studying languages unknown to you to write your name in these languages. And what's more, they will remember your name soon.

Try it!!







Blog#8 South Korea's Education

        Hello everyone, this is Shoko :) How was your summer vacation??I went to the lake Kawaguchi and enjoyed swimming in a river, eating Houtou which is kind of noodle, and watching fire works!!Yet i have been so busy for working and studying these days:(

        As you know, The relationship between south korea and japan is getting worse these days. I think the statement to japan’s emperor by Lee Myung-bak is still fresh in your memory. So, today’s my topic is south korea and I would like to focus on its education because i am taking teacher training course.

        South Korea, the official name is Republic of Korea, is a country located in the southern part of Korea peninsula. It is also one of neighbors of Japan which you can visit there within 3 hours by airplane from Tokyo. It is a high democratic country. The population is about 50 million. After the war with North Korea which ended in 1950, it has culturally and economically developed rapidly. Despite its tininess; 109^th largest country in the world, now it is one of the largest developed countries in Asia. According to Wikipedia, in 2008, its GDP was 1,163 trillion dollars which was ranked 15^th in the world and now its economy is fourth strongest in Asia and fifteenth in the world. Recently, South Korea is famous as exporting its culture such as K-pop, drama, food, and electronic devices. Samsung, a Korean consumer electronics company, is now one of the biggest companies as other world’s companies.

Map of South Korea

           South Korea has a compulsory education system like japan. All 6 to 14 year-old students can be taken education for free for 9 years. 

So infrastructure of education system is good compared with other developing countries. After compulsory education ends, 99.6% of students enter high school. There is no entrance examination for high school in South Korea unlike Japan. Therefore entrance examination for university is the only examination which students take. This is one reason why exam for university is extremely hard. You might know that examination  is totally bruising. Korean people attach huge importance to career. It means university you graduated decides your job and future. It is quite common that parents take a day off on the day of exam to encourage and pray for their children. Despite extremely low temperature, they wait outside until exam is over. Sometimes even police are there to take care of those parents and drive students who get a wrong exam venue to the right place.

Praying parents 

           Cram school is also one of features of South Korea’s education. Parents let their children go to cram school at an early age. Many students usually get up early in the morning and go to bed late in the night for studying. Because of that, many students damaged their health. South Korea has conscription and needs healthy young people to make strong army. 

So the government once prohibited cram school to prevent losing healthy young men. However, it did not work at all. Soon high schools were replaced as cram schools and students continued to study until midnight every day

South Korea's cram school

        There are many problems cause by its education style. In that highly tensed situation, students obviously feel unbelievable stress and pressure from parents all day. Of course they have no holiday. You might have heard that suicide rate in Korean is highest in the world.  12,858 people killed themselves in 2008, which is equal to 35 people killing themselves every day and many students are included in the number. You can see more detail HERE. Also, bullying is another huge problem.

        Thanks to such a severe education style, Korea marked high score in PISA investigation. However, its education style makes children physically and also mentally tired and unhealthy. They might need to think what is the best way to educate children once again.

Blog #8 IELTS TEST

 Hello everyone!! This is Chiaki Tochihara. Today is the last day of my long summer vacation, but I really want to see my friends, so it’s ok for me. I hope you had a great summer vacation, too:*

Today, I’ll introduce to you about an English examination called IELTS, which means International English Language Testing System. Do you know about it? Or Have you ever taken the exam?? I have taken the exam twice, and I felt the test was terrific test that I have never taken before.

Nowadays in Japan, TOEIC test is very common and we had such an exam when we entered this university. Most of Japanese people would know TOEIC because when we start to find a job, almost all companies ask us about the scour of TOEIC test, so university students try to study hard and get high score of TOEIC test. Basically, thought TOEIC test has two sections, listening and reading test, it becomes to have other section, speaking and writing test. Unfortunately, however, we cannot use the score of TOEIC test for studying abroad.

On the other hand, recently, IELTS becomes popular all over the world and same as Japan. The test is suitable test for people who want to show their English skills for study abroad and study training, or who apply for their transmigrations. IELTS is admitted by some institution of higher education in UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In America, it is getting to be accepted for the entrance exam, and the candidates all over the world have been getting increase.

Speaking of study abroad, TOEFL test is very common one, but TOEFL test has many difficult specialist vocabularies and examination candidates have to take the exam with using a computer, so that means, in speaking section, we speak to the screen of the laptop. I think it depends on the person which exam is good for them but there are three advantages of IELTS test.First, we don’t need to have specialist vocabulary’s knowledge. Of course we need to learn many vocabularies, about 10000 words, but even if we are lack of the specialist vocabularies, don’t worry because we can figure out such a difficult meaning word by reading sentences around the word, we can guess its meaning. In TOEFL test, if we have not learned a special field, we cannot get high score even if we have high English skills. But in IELTS test, we are equal on the situation weather have learned a special field or not, so it is easier to get high score. Second, we can test our real English skills for all four sections. IELTS test has four sections, listening, reading, writing and speaking, and we have to write the correct spelling of the answers even on the listening test, it means it’s not a mark-test. Of course there are also some questions for the test-taker to select among, but we are needed to write correct spelling and the singular and the plural, so it will become our real English skills because nowadays writing on the paper becomes less than before because of the computer or some convenient devices, many people, even native people, cannot spell correctly today, so IELTS improves our spelling skills too. And especially on the reading section, some topics of the passage are really interesting and good for our life, we can get to know about interesting categories, so I have never felt tired as reading and studying for IELTS test. These new knowledge make us more clever and we can put our learning to practical use after entering the foreign university. Third, we can feel as if we were in other place outside Japan. The exam begins with an explanation which proctor gives in English. At the first time that I took the exam, I was surprised but I could enjoy the environment looks like foreign countries. In addition, there are many candidates, not only Japanese but also the people come from other countries. So I can also feel foreign environment. At last, we can talk with a British examiner during speaking test, so it is a sort of a good training of talking with native speaker. I cannot speak in smooth and fluent English but I like speaking section because of I can talk with them!!

In short, IELTS is an exam but I can enjoy taking this exam!! If you have never taken this exam, please try and know your real English skills. After taking the exam and getting to know which section is your weak point, you can strengthen that point!!

Oh, I have to say to you guys, please pay great attention, because this test has very strict surveillances: due date, show passport, expensive, identify fingerprint and many things that we should do before the exam….if you forget to do only one of these, you cannot take the exam even if you paid….the same as me….

Blog#7 importance of knowing the past

Hi, everyone, this is Chiaki. How have you been?? Do you enjoy your summer vacation?? I also enjoy my summer vacation though my part time job sticks me…

Some days ago, I watched TV, it called “IkegamiAkira’s thinking about the war SP~ dictators who made up wars and frenzy~”. I have been interested in the story of some wars since I was an elementary school student, so I wanted to watch this program.

Mr. Ikegami talked about “dictators”, “dictatorships” and “the common people’s distressing life under the wartime”. And the keyword is “FRENZY”. I was shocked by all stories and was surprised to hear that the source which made the dictators is us, the people, who are filled with wild enthusiasm.

The most shocking fact for me is Auschwitz, it was a concentration camp build by Jewish by themselves ordered by Hitler. I know about the WWⅡand who Hitler is, but I have never known the fact what was happening at Auschwitz. How terrible it was!! I could not stop my tears… All Jewish and Polish were sent to the equipment and they were selected if they could work or not, and the latter people were cut their hair and sent to a gas chamber, and then were killed, after that, their skin and gold tooth were taken away to use for government’s business, it means the government made some pieces of paper from their skin and hair, and they made other things with using body corpse. Jewish and Polish were selected every night, if they became week and couldn’t work, they were sent to the gas chamber, of course, children under 5 or 6 years old were sent. These are shoes, too small shoes which children wore before they were killed.

After I watched this program, I considered what the war is and why it is happened, I could reach my point of view, I think it looks like brainwashing, it means as some of the people would not want to take part in the war, the observation from surrounding is so strict, so they cannot help obeying the nation. I really don’t want wars to occur again in Japan and in the world, so we should think what the correct thing is and have to learn about the past, which has many sad mistakes we could learn from them. To learn the past and think about that are important things for the modern people, especially young person.

Date with vegan

Hello this is shoko:)

Yesterday, I read an article which is about Vegan. Before talking about vegan, do you know what it is ??

I actually didn't know those kind of people. I guess most of you know about vegetarian. They eliminate meat from their diet. I cannot imagine a life without fried chickens, stakes, hamburgs, and so on...

But astonishingly, vegans are more then that. They eliminate everything which made from an animal; they don't eat diary foods either!!



This article focuses on relationship between vegans. Since the population of vegans are law, they unlikely happen to meet vegans in life though it is really difficult to date with a person who has different eating habit.

So they made a SNS site to meet vegans.It gives many vegans opportunities to find friends and lovers.

Of course relationship through the Internet has a danger. However, they have almost no choice to use it in order to expand their relationship. It is much harder thing for them that having lover who has different diet.

Food and also love are really important for us.

It depends on you to judge which is more important thing.

Blog # 6 Summer Vacation

안녕하세요? 저는 기무라 다쿠토예요.( Hi! I'm Kimura Takuto. )


Have you already decided what to do during summer vacation? I'm taking part in "Gakushuin University Global Campus Asia 2012" and we are going to Korea from August 1st to 22nd. (Information's here.) We are going to visit schools including Japanese one, a museum, some Japanese based companies and an idol production company ( because some of us like K-pop! ). And of course, we are taking Korean classes during the stay. Participants are as few as 8 people, but I'm sure it will be a nice trip.

By the way, we are going to Taegu not Seoul, and stay in Kyoungpook National University, which is very huge school.


↑my passport:3

But Teagu is a little far from Seoul, which is why I will have difficulty in sightseeing in Seoul.So, I would like to enjoy around Teagu and Busan afternoon. If you have ever been there and have recommendations, please let me know^^

blog#6 GREEN FOR LIFE

 Hi everyone, this is Chiaki. Today, I’ll talk about Green smoothie. Do you know it??

Actually, after having entered this university, I gained about 9 kilograms….How terrible it is!!!! This means when I was a high school student, I was about 10 kilograms less person, another person. WOW!!! I have really wanted to lose my weight, but actually I like eating and drinking, so it is hard for me to keep my diet…

About 3 months ago, in April, I could know about Green Smoothie Diet which a Japanese actress YUKA tried and got her weight lost about 7 kilograms within a half year. So, I have started the Green Smoothie Diet since April. It is very easy for me. You need a mixer, water (or milk), fruit (especially bananas) and vegetables, and then you mixed them and drink it before taking some food. I always drink it in the morning or when I am hungry after supper. I keep doing like that every day, I could lose my weight about 4 kilograms within 3 months!!! Unfortunately, my appearance of my body shape haven’t changed, I think I need do some exercise for my appearance.

Here is a site which I often look at.

I could tell you my favorite Green Smoothies, first one is a smoothie which are mixed with bananas, milk and spinach, and the second one is that are mixed with bananas, oranges, spinach, apple, lettuce and water. The latter is famous one.

Green Smoothie Diet is also good for our health, for example, our skin changes good and we could have comfortable defecation, and it is fun because you can make and find what you like. Why don’t you to start Green Smoothie Life, I am sure it would change your life better and happier, you will be able to lead your life with good conditions of your health.

blog#6 Color Contact Lenses

Hi, this is Shoko:)

have you ever wore contact lenses? I think every one have a friend who wear them every day.

Then, how about color contact lenses? Do you have any friends who use them? I guess not so many here in Gakushuin. Over 15 million people in japan are using contact lenses. however we never know exactly the number of people who use color contact lenses because many users do not buy them trough a doctor. But according to the graph, we can say , the number must be increasing rapidly.

we often hear that colore contact lenses are bad for eyes. Is that true?

Unfortunately, there are many eye problems caused by color contact lenses.  The lightest injury is itching and eye redness.  The worst is becoming blind.  According to the survey by NITE in 2004, one thirds of the eye problems have a possibility to be blind. Isn't it so surprising?? I did not expected how scaring it is.

 Also,according to the survey by National Institute of Technology and Evaluation which is called NITE in 2008, teenagers, specifically 15 to 25 year-old people, account for 90 percent of the whole users who have eye problems caused by color contact lenses.This problem is actually close to us, especially for girls.

How do we prevent eye problems?? The most important thing is going a hospital and getting  proper information before using color contact lenses.

I never say color contact lenses are bad things.  I rather like them because of its usefulness and fashion.  Isn’t it so attractive that you can get pretty eyes by just wearing contact lenses?  At least, it is for me.  That is why many young people are eager to get them even with risks.  However, do you really need to be beautiful even at the risk of losing your health?   No matter how much money you have, you never buy it.  Nobody, especially your family and lovers, would want you to be beautiful at cost of  your perfect health.

So, remember to go hospital before using color contact lenses!! And do not buy them trough the internet!!

Be beautiful in a safe and healthy way :)

Blog#5 Black Swan

      Good evening, I am Fumiya. Tonight,I would like to recommend you "Black Swan"(2011) directed by Darren Aronofsky. Before explaining about this film, I want you to know why I chose this.  As you may know, I am an ameteur hula dancer. On July 29th, I will participate in National College Hula Dance Competition 2012 for sections of group and solo, both. That is why I want to raise my morale with the maximum effort by the end of this month. Needless to say, I know how to be a good dancer, that is a daily practice, but also I think that there are something I cannnot toughen up by only daily practices, so I asked my coach. Then, she told me that besides dancing hula, watching movies about dancing is a good way to deepen your expressions on hula, it may makes your hula more aggressive and emotional. To polish my hula techniques further, I chose "Black Swan".


      The story is about a ballet dancer, Nina (Natalie Portman) who lives in New York, she lives with her mother. Her mother also belonged same ballet company which Nina goes now, but she had to gave up her dream halfway because she became pregnant when she was 28, that baby was Nina. That is why she leave her dream to Nina since her daughter was born, she gave Nina special education of ballet, it made her become an honor ballet dancer, but her ballet is just straight and sensitive, not sensual or wild. One day, she applied for an audition for a cast of Swan Queen. That role have to act White Swan and Black Swan both. Her image fit perfectly for White Swan, but she does not fit Black Swan at all because she is too pure, gentle and delicate for that role. However, Nina wanted that role no matter what, so she persuade her dance director, Tomas. She was asked about her love and sexual experiences because those were neccesary to be the Black Swan , and she was kissed by him. She was so surprised and refused him, then she bite his lips. By this action, he found out her potential to act Black Swan, he chose her as new SwanQueen. Since she was chosen, she was burdened by her mother's pressure, the dance director's scolding,her colleagues's enviousness and her hallucination due to stress by those. Even she was concerned with those distresses, she never gave up. That is why she could give the first public performance of Swan Lake perfectly, but she was assailed by hallucinations at her dreesing room, she thought that she killed her collegue, Lily. However, it was just hallucination, actually she stabbed her stomach with a broken piece of her mirror. Still, she acted perfectly until she finished her performance. This story ends with her lines which "I was perfect",then Lily found out that she was losing her blood badly and Tomas called the ambulance.



     I felt fear because this film's description was grotesque, like losing blood. I felt it was like a horror movie, but I was impressed by Nina's soul for dancing so I could feel passion and learn what should I do as a dancer is not only daily practice, sometimes I need myself to bring to bay, for appearing on a stage like a big scale hula competition which I will partcipate in.  By watching this film, I started thinking more about hula, practicing more. Ithink it was very precious film for my hula life, I will make extra special efforts for that competition thanks to "Black Swan".  If you are interested in dancing, or having experiences as a dancer, you should watch this.

Mia 

Blog#5 "The Box"

Hello, this is Shoko. Today i would like to introduce a mystery film which is named "The Box"(2009). This movie is directed by Richard Kelly.

The story is really interesting. Norma Lewis(acted by Cameron Diaz) who is a teacher and Arthur Lewis(acted by James Marsden) who works for NASA are really close family with a young son.   One day Norma finds a wooden box right in front of the entrance. It is a button with a letter which says an men comes tomorrow. On the next day, a men who has no left side of the face comes Norma's home then explains about the box. If she push the button, she will get 1 million dollars. However, someone she does not know will die in return. After that day,unfortunately economical situation of the family is getting worse and worse so that they need money to keep their life. She decides to push the button and receives money as a rewards. Norma and Arthur notice this is what they must not do. Although they try to give the money back to the man, he never receives it. He just says"unfortunately, the button was pushed."  Since that day, many strange things happen around them. As they involve those happening, they gradually find out what is happening and who the man is. Suddenly, their son is kidnapped. The man comes to see them and tells the son became blind and deaf. If they want to help him, Norma has to be shot by Arthur. This is a really difficult decision for Arthur. But finally, he shoots Norma to help son at the same time, the button is pushed somewhere. 

If you were Norma, can you push the button? To be honest, I might push it because by  temptation of money even though this is not right thing to do. Once you have done, you never can be back the life before you done. This film tells such a right thing which we often forget.
Basic story of this film is really simple and easy to understand but short. That is why the director had to add a sub story to make this film longer and that makes this film complicated and boring. I like this movie though,  it could be much better if make the main story deeper.

Here is an official trailer.

You can also check further information here. please check it if you are interested:)

Blog#4 "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes"

 Hi, this is Chiaki Tochihara. I'm going to write about one of the famous detective movies "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) sometimes called "The adventure of Sherlock Holmes". I'm surprised because Takuto wrote about Sherlock Holmes but I'm sure there are about 60 works (full-length novels 4 and short novels 56) which are all series of Holmes written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes but I have never read or watched these stories, but instead of this, I have ever read one of his novesl " The Lost World". So, this is the first time that I watch series of Sherlock Holmes and this movie threw me into ecstasies.

*Arthur Conan Doyle

This story is...
  In London, something left by Dr. John Watson ( who is a companion of Holmes and a recorder who records some difficult cases which were solved by Holmes) which had been prohibited to open for 50 years after death of him is being opend at a vault of a bank. That was a record and a case of their (Sherlock Holmes who is famous for a great detective and Dr.John Watson) community life. But, it was really related to their private life, so it had not been opened for a long time. This is the story.
  Holmes has been boring because there was no interesting cases. However, one day evening, a beautiful woman who was wet was sent to Holmes's house by a horse-drawn cab. She lost her memories so she doesn't know what she is and where she is from and so on, because she dropped into the Thames, but Holmes affirms that she is Belgian and her name is Gabrielle. Next morning, her memory is restored and she said that her husband who is a mining engineer invented a pump of air, but she've received no word from him once since he joined YONA & Co..So they go to YONA & Co., but there is no people and there is a vacant place but instead of these, there are a large amount of canaries. And then, Holmes and Dr. Watson go to see Mycroft Holmes who is older brother of Holmes, and he said to them that it is better to get a request from Gabrielle off their hands. However his advice makes them excited and Holmes reasoned the key to solving the question is located in Loch Ness in Scotland, and Holmes, Dr. Watson and Gabrielle go there.
There are three key words which help to solve the case, which are a graveyard, an old castle and a letter of invitation from Mycroft. I don't write any more because I want you to enjoy and solve this case of the story.
  This story is great, interesting and the last is a little romantic. My favorite point and scene is this movie uses the Loch Ness Monster, Nessie for their shape of submarine. I like this story and I colud enjoy solving the case of Gabrielle. Please watch it !!
I'm sure I watch other series soon :)

Blog # 4 " Sherlock Holmes"

Hi! This is Kimura Takuto.

We watch " The Big Sleep" , a detective story in the class. So I would like to write about a famous movie related to detective. This is " Sherlock Holmes". But as there are many movies about it, I am going to talk about one made in 2009. ( Information is here .)

Its story goes like this; Holmes and Watson struggle to solve mysterious incidents caused by an occult sorcerer, Lord Blackwood, who is trying to ruin England. Lord's tricks are so magnificent and unbelievable that many people in the movie think they are really magics or curses. One of his amazing trick is this; after caught, sentenced to execution for his murders, and entombed, he revives and goes on frightening England people. But Holmes and Watson disprove his tricks and prevent his ambition.

Its sequel was broadcasted in 2011 named Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow, which unfortunately I haven't watched yet.

By the way, I have heard a kind of anecdote from one of our high school teachers that Holmes was able to engage in incidents as a private detective since he succeeded in investing and had much money. Is this true? If you know or have some ideas, please let me know!!

Blog2# Trip to Minatomirai :)

            Hi there, this is Fumiya. I went to Minato-mirai with my friend, Satsuki on June 4th. She took me there by her bike; I rode on a bike together for the first time! It was so interesting, thrilling. Firstly, we went to Colette mare, it is a large shopping mall in Minato-mirai. They had a summer sale, so I bought a skirt. That was exactly what I want! So cute! After shopping, we had lunch at Starbucks. When we were eating our sandwiches, staffs brought us samplings of their new products, “Mango Pudding Frappuchino”, it was so cute and yummy!

                                              This is a picture of the sampling!


Then, we went to Anpanman Museum in Yokohama, I was used to go there when I was a high school student! I like there so much,because the characters are very cute. Someone may think that I am childish, but I don't care. LOL

at the entrance of Anpanman Restaurant

Also, there is a bakery of uncle Jam, his bread are so cute! Here is a picture of those.

  

After enjoyed at Anpanman Museum, we went to Manyo Club, it is a big spa in Yokohama. My friend,Satsuki is a worker at there, so she gave me a free ticket! We enjoyed bedrock bathing for 2 hours, and also we enjoyed watching a wonderful night view from a foot bath which is located on a roof of Manyo Club! We stayed there for 6 hours, we  could relieve our stress and be satisfied completely! If you want to be relaxed, i suggest you to go there.

It is a room of 'Aka', they also have 4 different types of rooms for bedrock bathing.  

The view from there was awesome!!!! You should go there :)

Me Ke Aloha,

Mia

Blog#2 :Volunteer

Hello, this is Shoko. Today, I would like to talk about a social issue, because my last topic is kind of shallow.

I am taking an international development course at Waseda University. In this course, students learn various problems which developing countries face, how serious those problems are, what organisations tackle with the problems, and so on.

Trough this class, I read a book which is the title of "世界をちょっとでもよくしたい". This book introduces 3 stories about students in Waseda university volunteer group. I would like to focus on the 1st story which is about street children in Borneo. 

A cover of the book ↓

By the way, where is Borneo?? The answer is here. ↓

Borneo is an island and it is famous as a resort area where many tourists come in every season. It sounds like a fine place to live. However Borneo has a huge street children problem. Because Borneo is not a rich country, it cannot help those children economically. Also, the government actually has not so much interest in this issue. The main reason is that most street children are illegal. Although the government tried to get them back to their countries, they come back again and again. This is because their home　countries, specifically Sarawak and Sabah, are much more poorer than Borneo. In those countries they can get only a tiny food everyday. 

Waseda volunteer group which is named "Borneo Project(BP)" decided to help street children. They had an image that skinny children standing on a street alone with sad face and there is no hope and no happiness. They prepared some games. One student practice magics. They thought that is a way to make children laugh and happy.

Their image was totally wrong. Street children were smiling and look fine and happy. 

What is volunteer? Is it giving games and showing magics to make children laugh? Obviously, it is not. If the member of BP just disappointed to Borneo's situation and changed a place to do work, I think it cannot be called volunteer work. We must not do volunteer to satisfy ourselves. We have to think what people need first. However it is not enough. We also must not spoil poor people. Just giving food or money is really easy, but it does not help anything. How can we help they as a student? What can we do for them?

Through a long time discussion, they determined to help not only street children but also people in Borneo. They found a huge garbage issue near an immigration settlement. Tons of garbage were thrown on a beach where the settlement is close to. The main cause is people's way of thinking about garbage. In order to fix the situation, they planed a play related this problem. It was an easy way to tell what they thought for everyone especially small children. Their play was succeeded. Everyone enjoyed their play and understood how garbage is bad for environment and their health. After saw the play, people in the settlement started to clean up the beach.

What can we do for poor people? I know there are many answers. I think what BP member did is one answer. Of course, we cannot pay a lot of money to build their home or to take care of them for whole a life. We also cannot change any laws or government to protect them. It sounds like we cannot do any thing. However, in other words, we can do any thing if it does not cost any money or relate to law or government. Doesn't it sound like we are more freer than adults? I think we really are.  So, why don't we think about volunteer a little bit seriously??

Blog#2 Mark Twain

Hello everyone! This is Chiaki Tochihara.

Today I would like to introduce to you about one of my favorite novelists: Mark Twain. I am interested in his novels and his life.

Do you know novels ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’? These were written by him and these stories are interesting and we can learn about America in the 1830s and in the 1840s, especially about racial discrimination. I’m interested in racial discrimination so I want you to read these novels!
Mark Twain is a pen name and his real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born in Missouri and he led his life in Hannibal which is hardly larger than a village. In his childhood, he was interested in a river which lies from North to South near the Gulf of Mexico and he loved to see the river and a steamship sailing on the river, and every boy was eager to ride on a steamship which is a floating castle, and so did he. After many years, he worked on a ship and was a pilot of the ship and actually he was cheerful and energetic so everyone liked him. In spite of difficulties, he could have enjoyed his time on a ship. After that he turned to newspaper work, but he had still loved the river and loved a river forever. His pen name came from a river term that meant important for a pilot, ‘ by the mark, twain’ (水深二尋) which is a limit shallow for a steamship to be able to sail without aground. It is very interesting story, isn’t it? When I read his novel for the first time, I couldn’t expect it from his story. Everything about him is fascinating.

Furthermore, do you know Mark Twain Steamboat? It is an attraction we can enjoy at the Tokyo Disneyland. Actually Walt Disney loved to read ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and Tom Sawyer Island which located in Westernland at Tokyo Disneyland was derived from this novel. Mark Twain Steamboat which was derived frim Mark Twain sails on an American river which lies around Tom Sawyer Island.

This attraction isn’t popular but I like it because when I ride on this steamboat, I can feel an atmosphere of America in the 1830s as Mark Twain felt. I recommend to you to read Mark Twain’s novel and to try to ride on this steamboat.

Blog # 2: Ghibli Movie News

This is Kimura Takuto.
Do you think whether this movie will succeed or not?
A short movie in which Kyoshinhei (God warrior)- a character in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind(if you don't know, click this) - is the protagonist will be broadcasted in July at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo(home page here). The movie will be made by Anno Hideyuki(information about him is this), who is famous for EVANGELION's creator. As soon as the news posted on an EVANGELION's fan page, many people began paying attention to it and most articles about the movie have been tweeted by more than 800 people. Some people show interests in the movie, saying "it will become a good movie for Kyoshinhei admirers. But others have negative views like "it will be scaring for children."
I would like to watch it as a Ghibli admirer, but I have no idea why Anno decided to do such a risky thing. I hope the movie will not become ugly like Kyoshinhei.